BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - As organizations throughout the Gulf South region get ready for the start of another hurricane season, hospital personnel will learn how to take special care to prepare for unplanned emergencies and disasters.

Bonnie Spalding, a contingency cooling engineer at Trane, will address the planning process beginning at 9 a.m., Thursday, June 5, at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Engineers. Speaking at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, she will discuss the concept of “cooling contingency planning for hospitals” and share a step-by-step process for evaluating, establishing, and implementing a contingency plan.

Hospitals often overlook planning for a cooling outage, even though failure to address the issue could be dangerous and costly, says Trane. A well-crafted cooling contingency plan makes it possible for hospitals to quickly and easily use temporary cooling in case normal indoor comfort systems are disrupted, the company says. Doing so:

• Minimizes downtime during an emergency to help keep patients and staff safe and comfortable.

• Controls the cost of temporary cooling with preplanned building modifications.

Trane’s cooling contingency plan program is designed to help hospitals identify potential sources of cooling system failure and create plans for each failure scenario. This process establishes the required cooling and specific equipment needed to maintain cooling in critical areas. While the plan is being refined, recommendations may be made on facility modifications to prepare for temporary cooling. This allows faster installation in the event of an emergency. When the cooling contingency plan is complete, it requires only a phone call to activate.

For more information, visit www.trane.com.

Publication date: 05/26/2008

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